Be Together
by Endless Hopeless Fading Lights
Summary: Mai is after the last duel card but getting it wont be that easy. She'll have to fight off a swarm of enemies and a handsome young stranger, who has his own agenda in mind. Will she find out what's really important in life?
1. Chapter 1

Be Together

The sound of light footsteps raced through the forest. Leaves scattered and danced towards the sky as a young woman came screeching to a halt. She eyed up her opponents with intensity. Two shadowy figures stepped out from the darkness and stared back at the young woman.

"So, Mai Valentine" said one of the men. "Looks like your time is up. You'll never get the last duel card!"

The two men were pretty big in build, both holding knives as well, definitely two people you wouldn't want to mess around with. However, Mai didn't back away. She kept her focus knowing that any minute they could strike. They certainly didn't seem the type who would be afraid of hitting a lady so Mai had to be extra cautious.

Two against one didn't seem that bad odds though. Not to Mai Valentine, she was pretty confident that she could take both of them, even at the same time. The two men inched a little closer to Mai but still she did not back down.

"What's a pretty little girl like you doing alone out late by yourself here in the forest? Don't you know it's not safe? What can a little girl possibly do to harm us?"

Both men started laughing hysterically. Mai got angrier and angrier; she was ready for a fight, more ready than the two men.

Without warning, the two men raced forward and tried to grab her but Mai managed to jump up, hang off a tree branch and swing down behind them.

"You'll have to do better than that boys." she said with a smile on her face.

It was Mai's turn to charge at them. But the men in turn dodged her attacks and were able to grab hold of her wrist. She struggled violently to get free but it was no use. She had her arm twisted painfully behind her back and the other man brought a knife up to her throat.

"You make a wrong move, girlie, and we'll cut you to ribbons."

Mai stared him in the eye. He didn't look like he was bluffing. Mai had to think of a way out; she had to get that last duel card, and the one she had been hunting for so long. Mai could feel the icy cold tip of the knife touch her neck and run down softly as to only scratch. It sent a tingling feeling down her spine, one of nervousness and fear.

Mai waited until the grip on her arm was loosened and took the opportunity to kick the knife away. She then spun around and kicked the man who grabbed her in the face, which sent him flying 10 feet away. But as soon as she turned around, the other man was there, the other faceless man, who wore a black mask to conceal his identity. He caught Mai with a punch to the gut, which really knocked the wind out of her. She bent over gasping for air. The man then gave her a back handed slap across the face knocking her to the ground.

The two men stood over her in her semi-conscious state.

"What shall we do with her?"

"We can tie her to one of those trees let the wolves deal with her. Nobody will ever know and we'll get away with it."

"Good idea. Akio, you carry her over her."

Akio? Where had she heard this name before? Her mind was fogged as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She couldn't think straight as the man reached down and pulled her to her feet.

Mai felt her self being tossed over Akio's shoulder. She was powerless to stop him carrying her; all she could do was stare at the ground as her vision faded.

Then suddenly out of nowhere, Akio was sent crashing to the ground, Mai along with him. The other man looked up to see what had happened. It was a tall, good-looking young man with brown hair.

"Seto? Seto Kaiba?" said the man in disbelief.

"Time for you guys to die. You can't go round beating on beautiful girls. That's why I'm here, to enforce the law."

Kaiba punched the man straight in the face and then threw him into a nearby tree. The other man, named Akio, got up as well and attacked Kaiba but he was ready. Kaiba delivered a hard roundhouse kick, followed by an uppercut, which completely knocked Akio out. The other man got up slowly but he did come to attack. Kaiba looked at him angrily and he ran off scared.

Kaiba immediately went to check on Mai who was breathing heavily, trying to get up from the ground. Kaiba extended his hand to help her up. At first she didn't take it, she had no idea who this guy was, for all she knew; he could have been one of the enemy.

Mai tried a few times to get up on her own, but was unsuccessful. She was still a little disorientated from the attack. She reluctantly allowed Kaiba to help her to her feet and steady her.

"I-I have to get that Duel Card. I have to go to the temple."

"You're not going anywhere, you need to rest. You might have injuries."

"I-I'm fine, please, I must go. Let me go."

Kaiba seemed concerned as the woman tried to get out of his tender grip. He wasn't holding her hard and he could tell she wouldn't survive if he let her go out on her own.

"Please, dammit," Mai screamed. "You have no idea how important this is, please."

She started banging her fist on his chest but she soon grew tired as Kaiba wasn't about to let her go anywhere, not in her condition.

"Plea…" she began, but was cut off as fainted into Kaiba's arms.

Kaiba looked down at the fainted woman. He had a feeling this would happen, he knew he had made the right decision. Kaiba reached down underneath Mai's legs and scooped her up into his strong arms. He looked at her face, so pure, so innocent. She looked like sleeping beauty. She was so light and soft and easy to hold. Kaiba felt like a true knight and shining armour and it was proud of it too.

Kaiba then carried Mai back to his home.

It was a long journey but he enjoyed every moment of it.


	2. Chapter 2

Mai opened her eyes slowly and looked around hazily to see her new surroundings. Everything seemed strange to her, she thought for a moment that she was back in her room, but her room was never as nice as this.

The bed she lay on was so comfortable and the room she was in was so nice, so well decorated, she thought she was in a palace.

The sun glistened through the nearby window. To her surprise, there was a man, silhouetted in the blistering sunlight. He was tall, but she couldn't quite make out whom it was. Her mind was still foggy; she had been asleep for over twelve hours.

The man then stepped out of the shadow and Mai looked at his face. It was Seto Kaiba, she recognized him straight away. Seto smiled at her and approached slowly extending his hand out to her.

"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked.

"You!"

Her memory was coming back. She remembered fighting those two guys and how Kaiba came out of nowhere and fought them off. The duel card, she finally remembered. She was after the last duel card, her relief suddenly turned to disappointment and then anger.

"You stopped me from getting that duel card. You don't know how important that is to me. You obviously drugged me and kidnapped me, carrying me off to your evil lair."

"What? Listen lady, if it wasn't for me those two guys would have fed you to the wolves. You're lucky I'm always on the lookout round here. It looks like they gave you a rough time, I hate men who mistreat a lady. And I didn't kidnap you, I saved you."

"Liar! I could have got the duel card, you bastard. Now those guys are going to get it."

"Looked like you were friendly. You know those guys?"

"We go way back. They've been tracking me for some time now as I've been collecting rare duel cards across the world and they were obviously lying in wait for me in that forest. It's near the temple, you see. The temple where the last duel card is. If I had that, I could finally be proud of myself. I would know that everything I've lived so far has been worthwhile."

"And has it?"

"Look Kaiba, you better get out of my way because I'm going to get that duel card whether you like it or not."

Mai got off the bed and walked towards the door but Kaiba grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"You're not going anywhere," he said. "You're in no condition."

"I'm perfectly fine. I could've beaten those guys if you hadn't interfered."

Mai suddenly felt weak at the knees and she collapsed into Kaiba's chest for second. But she soon regained her wits and stood up straight.

Kaiba laughed.

"And another thing," said Mai. "Don't think you're planning to steal the card behind my back. I would snap your neck if you came even close to it."

Kaiba laughed again. "Listen, I'm not interested in your stupid duel card. I just want to make sure you're ok. You see, I'm a gentleman. There aren't many left in the world today and I won't let an injured woman go back out into the forest alone whilst a couple of psychotic ninjas are chasing her."

"I don't need you, now let go of me. Are you gonna rape me or something? Let go!"

"You're crazy!"

Kaiba didn't let go. In fact his grip increased on Mai's arm and she winced in pain. After a while, she stopped struggling and Kaiba released his grip.

"I'm glad you've finally seen sense." Kaiba said.

"Big mistake, loser," said Mai.

She then swung back and caught Kaiba with a punch to the jaw, which sent him reeling backwards against the wall. Kaiba staggered to his feet and managed to catch up with Mai who was running towards the front door of the house. He took her by the shoulders and spun her round.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kaiba shouted.

"Sorry Mr Seto Kaiba, but I have important duties to attend to. Shame we couldn't sort this mess out, we could have made quite the couple."

Mai then leaned forward and put her hand between her large breasts. Then she seductively pulled out a tiny blue ball. Kaiba was too mesmerized to move. Mai winked at him and then dropped the blue ball to the ground before quickly heading for the door.

The tiny blue ball exploded and a purple gas came out. Kaiba coughed and covered his mouth, trying not to inhale it but it was too late. His knees buckled from under him and he fell to the ground with an almighty thud. He looked with blurry vision and could only make out the faint outline of Mai Valentine's sexy butt as she walked out the door.

Then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Mai ran through the forest towards the temple again. She reached the steps leading up to the temple. It was a long way up, there must have been at least 500 steps but Mai didn't think about it for long. She sprinted up and was at the top in no time and not even out of breath.

The temple was shaped like a huge pyramid and inside there was a long narrow corridor leading down into darkness. Mai glanced back and then took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Mai was glad to have gotten rid of Kaiba. That gas bomb she gave him would knock him out for at least an hour, which was plenty of time to have got the duel card and be away. Mai hated feeling weak. She was no damsel in distress after all.

Mai walked down the corridor tentatively. Anything could be lurking round the corner. The sounds of her footsteps echoed around and her shadow was huge cast against the wall by the tiny lanterns up above.

Mai turned another corner. The passageway seemed to go on for miles, bending like a maze, but she couldn't give up, she had to go on. She kept walking, but was now hearing squeaks behind her. She thought it may have been the enemy and turned ready to attack, but it was just a mouse scuttling along, trying to find the exit.

Come to think of it, Mai had absolutely no idea how she got this far and absolutely no idea how she was going to get back. Her heart sank a little and she wished she had someone to tag along with her. But only for a moment, that thought soon passed.

Up ahead she could see a shining golden light and she walked slowly towards it. There were voices - the sound of two men chattering and sniggering to each other. Mai crouched down and waited outside the room patiently. She then peeked round and saw the two men. It was those two guys in the black ninja suits, they seemed happy. And that's when she saw it, the duel card, on top of a golden altar.

It looked like the two ninja guys planned to take the duel card before her but Mai had other ideas. She leapt forward and sprung off one ninjas head whilst kicking the other in the face. She then cart wheeled off and grabbed the duel card.

"Yes!" she cried. "I finally have it. Catch you later boys, I've gotta run."

The two ninjas tried to grab Mai but she simply hoped over them and skipped down the corridor with a huge smile on her face.

oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxox

Kaiba woke up in a daze.

He had been unconscious for almost an hour. He put his hand to his head. He had the biggest headache. He then realized what happened.

Mai?

He had to find Mai fast. A fragile, delicate girl like Mai couldn't possibly survive out in the wilderness by herself. He had to save her. So Kaiba quickly ran out of the house and headed through the forest and towards the temple. He knew that was where Mai went but he only hoped that he wouldn't get there too late.

oxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox

Mai felt so empowered, like she'd finally shown everyone and now with this duel card nobody was going to be able to defeat her. She was sick of being underestimated because she was a girl or just being stared at by perverts. She was going to take care of business.

Mai ran as fast as she could towards the exit when she heard a rumbling sound.

She looked behind her and it was the sound of the two ninjas running for their lives and then a loud, bellowing voice echoing from the room where Mai got the card.

"You have stolen from me," said the voice. "Now you must suffer!"

The two ninjas had run straight passed her without even noticing her but that was the least of her worries. Mai looked up and saw little pieces of the ceiling crumbling down.

Oh dear, she thought, and she started running faster than ever. She had no idea where the exit was so she was just running in any direction and running for her life.


	4. Chapter 4

Mai saw the ceiling start to crumble down and panicked. The ground was shaking like there was a huge earthquake and Mai was almost motionless with fear. But she knew she had to move and she had to move fast.

The narrow corridors were getting narrower and were filling up with debris. Mai had to climb over a lot of debris to get through. The path was now clear in front of her and she started to sprint. Then suddenly a huge part of the ceiling crashed down in front of her. She turned on her heel quickly but in doing so collapsed on her own ankle.

Mai fell to the ground and clutched her leg. She tried to stand but it was no good, her ankle kept giving way. She knew she shouldn't have worn high-heeled boots for a dangerous mission.

Mai sat on the ground as the ceiling crumbled around her. She knew she was doomed. There was no way out. Perhaps I had been too cocky, she thought. She was about to close her eyes and wait for the inevitable when out of the corner of her eye she saw the two ninjas who were in the temple also.

They laughed when they saw Mai sitting on the ground helplessly. They paused from the manic escape attempt for a moment and crouched down next to her.

"Well looky what we have here," said Akio. "Looks like you're the one in trouble now. Don't expect any help from us though you little witch. I think we'll take your duel card too if you don't mind."

Mai gasped as Akio reached into Mai's pocket and pulled out the duel card. The two ninjas took a step back. Mai couldn't retaliate; it was impossible for her to stop them taking it with her ankle in her condition.

"Catch you later, Miss Valentine," Akio said. "Hope you make it. But it doesn't seem likely unless you've got some knight in shining armour coming to save you."

They both laughed again and ran off.

Mai closed her eyes and resigned herself to certain death. All she could her was crashing and rumbling around her. She knew it was only a matter of time before the ceiling right above her would cave in.

Mai had also lost the duel card. The thing she had wanted most in the whole world. She had given it up without so much as a fight and Mai couldn't live with herself for that. She wanted to die now. She had shown weakness and there was no point to her life anymore.

The rumbling and crashing got louder and louder as it got closer and closer to Mai. A small smile brushed across Mai's slender lips as death would be the only escape away from the humiliation of losing to those two ninjas.

Suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps coming towards her. It couldn't have been the two ninjas. They would have been miles gone by now. Mai looked and saw the one person she didn't want to see. It was Seto Kaiba.

Kaiba smiled as he approached her.

"Mai!" he shouted. "Thank god I've found you. Come on, we've gotta get out of here. This place is gonna collapse any minute."

"What are you doing here?"

"I came after you. I thought you might be in trouble and it looks like it's a good job I came."

"Leave me, it's not worth it. My ankle, I can't get up. Go on, save yourself, my life isn't worth anything anymore."

"Rubbish! I came here because you are the most beautiful girl I've ever laid eyes on and that night when you fell into my arms was like a dream. I knew I had to protect you and I will. I won't let you die."

"You wouldn't love me Kaiba! You barely know me and if you did you certainly wouldn't love me. I'm not the kind of girl you'd go for. So just go and lead a happy life with some beautiful girl and live happily ever after."

"I will," Kaiba paused for a moment. "And that beautiful girl is you, Mai Valentine. And I'm not giving you a choice, we're getting out of here."

Kaiba then grabbed Mai's hand and hauled her up over his broad shoulder in one seamless powerful movement. Mai kicked and screamed and pounded on Kaiba's back but it didn't do any good.

"Put me down," Mai yelled. "Leave me here!"

"Not a chance, you're going to live happily ever after."

Mai continued to struggle as Kaiba raced through the collapsing corridors and headed towards the exit. Mai's struggling wasn't making Kaiba's job any easier that was for sure but there was no chance of her escaping with the grip he had on her.

Kaiba saw the exit up ahead. Rubble falling all around, there was only seconds left until the whole thing came down. Kaiba was so sure he was going to make it. He leapt with Mai still over his shoulder towards the door and landed on the steps below as the whole temple came crashing down in a heap.

As Kaiba hit the ground, he shielded Mai with his arms, so Kaiba took most of the impact. He had several cuts and bruises on him, but nothing he couldn't shake off. He staggered to his feet and turned and helped Mai up as well who was still nursing her ankle.

They both looked across and saw the two ninjas taunting them with the duel card. Kaiba's expression turned to pure rage and he ran at the ninjas. Mai tried to stop him, but it was too late, he was intent on killing them.

Kaiba tried to land a punch but the two ninjas managed to double-team Kaiba and they both kicked him in the face, a blow that sent Kaiba to the ground unconscious. They two ninjas taunted Mai with the duel card and Mai's expression turned to rage as well. She tried to run after them but her ankle soon gave way. She hobbled over but they had already run far away by that time.

Mai fell to the ground beside Kaiba and looked at his battered sleeping face. He looked kinda cute. Mai wasn't so concerned with the duel card now, instead all of her attention turned to Kaiba. He looked badly hurt and Mai was hoping that he wasn't going to die.

She started to cry.

Then Kaiba's eyes opened and he looked at Mai.

"I'm glad I managed to save you," he said in a hushed tone.

"Don't speak ok, just relax. You're going to be fine."

"I told you I loved you. Now do you believe me?"

Mai was a little taken aback by Kaiba's question. She knew she would have died if he hadn't have saved her. Perhaps she was wrong about this guy. Mai wiped the tears away from her face as Kaiba fell unconscious again.

"Oh god, please don't die," she said.

Mai then took a deep breath and put her lips to Kaiba's lips and started to breathe into his mouth. She did this several times. Each time his lips tasted sweeter. It was something she's never experience before.

Kaiba woke up with Mai's face just inches from him. He brought her down for a gentle kiss.

"Thank you, Mai," he said. "Thank you. You really do love me then?"

Mai blushed. Her face went bright red and Kaiba smiled.

Mai was silent but instead answered his question with another kiss as the sun began to set over the horizon leaving a beautiful orange haze cast over the two lovers.

"You saved me Mai!" Kaiba said.

"No, Kaiba, you saved me."  
Mai was finally so happy and relieved that there was someone there to protect her because that's what she needed all along - someone to love.

THE END!

A/N: thanks so much for reading. Special thanks to JC Rose and Tiffanylicis for reviewing my stuff and for their love and support of Seto/Mai. And thanks to anyone who read and enjoyed the story. And if you didn't like it, let me know what you didn't like and perhaps I'll fix that for next time. Bye for now.

Much love

xxx


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